Photos: A modest home in Atwater gets a modest (and cool) expansion
Architect Rebecca Rudolph and husband, Colin Thompson, a designer and builder, more than doubled the size of a 500-square-foot house using inexpensive and repurposed materials in surprising ways. They bought the 1923 Atwater Village cottage nine years ago for $139,000. “It was basically a tear-down,” Rudolph says — but one that they ultimately decided to keep, renovate and expand over time.
The couple, both 36, met when they were students at the Southern California Institute for Architecture. Although their design sensibilities aren’t always the same — Rudolph tends to prefer more glass — they agreed that they wanted a house that connected to the outdoors and a floor plan that flowed easily, so that the interior spaces felt larger than they are.
The kitchen demonstrates Rudolph’s ability to work with inexpensive materials and a great sense of color: turquoise ceiling, navy pendant lamp, red laminate countertop and white glossy
Although the size of the house more than doubled, it’s still a modest 1,150 square feet. The 6,500-square-foot lot retained its front courtyard. “It was partly financial,” Rudolph says. “We just didn’t feel like we needed that much space. And we really wanted to keep the yard.” (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
Inside the courtyard fence, the family dog, Captain, lays in front of the original part of the home. The landscaping consists largely of
Thompson made the concrete pavers. “It was like a factory in the backyard,” he says with a laugh. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
The courtyard connects with many rooms in the house. Here, Thompson closes the doors leading to the new master bedroom. Farther down, to the left of Captain are doors leading to the living room. The open door in the distance leads to the kitchen. The exterior siding of the addition is marine grade plywood stained a brownish red and used as an inexpensive alternative to traditional wood siding. The original 1923 part remains sided in pine stained gray. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
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From the courtyard, doors leads to the new master bedroom on the left and one of the house’s two bathrooms on the right. The living room sits around the corner, to the right. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
The reverse view: Looking back out the living room and bedroom doors into the courtyard, where Colin Thompson and Rebecca Rudolph sit with her mother and father, Nancy and Ross Rudolph. (Ken Hively /Los Angeles Times)
Captain hangs out in front of doors leading to the living room, where Rebecca Rudolph talks with daughter Rei Thompson, who’s almost 4. The addition’s polished black slab floors and reddish plywood siding contrast with the gray wood siding and plywood floors in the old part of the house to the right. “We like that there is differentiation based on when we built it,” Rudolph says. “It’s partially experimentation: See what it looks like and how it works.” (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
Rei Thompson, left, and her younger sister Marni in the living room with their grandfather, Ross Rudolph. Clerestory windows let in light without sacrificing privacy. “There aren’t floor to ceiling walls of glass or sliders,” Rebecca Rudolph says. “We wanted it to feel enclosed as well as open to the outside.”
Accordion doors at the rear of the room lead to another courtyard and a koi pond. “We did not want the house to have any dead-end spaces that felt removed from everyday use and the outdoors,” Rudolph says.
Note the curtain in the background. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
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Rebecca Rudolph opens what’s called a transparent blackout welding curtain, which she purchased for about $100 online from the building supplies company McMaster-Carr. She cut the bottom to fit. It blocks UV rays and cools the room. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
Rei watches TV at the other end of the living room, whose wall is wrapped in recycled pine fencing. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
Behind the rustic wall is a bathroom. The master bedroom lies beyond. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
Geoff McFetridge wallpaper outside the master bathroom. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
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Because the master bedroom is at the front of the house near the street, Rudolph and Thompson decided against windows in favor of a skylight, which brings in sunshine but keeps the room quiet and private. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
The skylight, which Rudolph and Thompson designed, resembles a James Turrell light sculpture and is made with 500 pounds of steel. When they wheeled it out of Tortoise Industries, a metal fabrication and powder-coating company, four men were needed to hoist it into Thompson’s truck. Ultimately, the couple needed a crane to put it in. Says Rudolph: “It’s my favorite thing in the house.” (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
A view out of the kitchen window toward the front courtyard and its outdoor dining room. It’s not hard to imagine someone passing a plate of food outside. Underneath the table, Rudolph and Thompson installed Mexican tile from Mortarless Building Supply. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
Geoff McFetridge wallpaper adds a sense of fun to this bedroom shared by two young girls. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
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Outside: koi pond and arbor. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
In the backyard, Captain jumps off the deck while Rebecca Rudolph plays with daughter Marni Thompson. The boxy structure is a detached office, which is sided in redwood stained gray. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
Center-stringer stairs leading into the office. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
To top it all off: a green roof. Colin Thompson waters plants that are intended to help absorb rainfall and reduce stormwater run-off. The garden is planted in 8 inches of soil, which also serves as insulation for the house.
“There is a huge difference between the old house and the new house,” Rudolph says. “The temperature is very even in the new addition.” She also loves that they have created a habitat on the roof. “There are birds, butterflies and grasshoppers.”
For a look at more modern homes on a modest budget, check out our photo galleries on the Rock Row townhouses in Eagle Rock, the award-winning Habitat 15 condos in Hollywood, LOC Architect’s remodeled live-work space in Chinatown.
If you’re in to small spaces, we’ve also got an interesting, zinc-alloy-clad Malibu retreat that’s just 700 square feet, as well as a stellar Coldwater Canyon guesthouse that proves just how cool one bedroom, bathroom and mini kitchen can be. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
